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The family believed Zane was killed when floodwater, contaminated by deadly cyanide gas from a former landfill site near the home, leaked into their home. However, evidence was presented suggesting carbon monoxide was to blame from a petrol pump hired to drain their flooded basement.

Zane Gbangbola inquest verdict

The couple, who clutched hands throughout the session at Woking Coroners’ Court, left the courtroom at different times upon hearing the coroner's conclusions.

Mr Travers told the court, filled with Zane’s family and friends and Truth About Zane supporters, that throughout the inquest he had taken into account both the hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide theories, and all the evidence pointed to Zane’s death "resulting from exposure to carbon monoxide".

Kye Gbangbola clearing floodwater from his front garden before he was confined to a wheelchair

He said: “The only evidence I have heard which suggests a presence of hydrogen cyanide in the house at any time is the alarm response [from a piece of fire service testing equipment] at about 7am on February 8, which was eight hours or more after Zane died and Mr Gbangbola was overcome.

Truth About Zane campaigners at Woking Coroner's Court

“The alarm sounded by the open front door of the house, at the threshold. It gave a low reading and it could not be repeated.” He added that although he heard evidence that the alarm indicated the presence of hydrogen cyanide, it "was not necessarily doing so".

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He said he found the single reading was "insufficient" in persuading him that hydrogen cyanide was present in the house, and added "on the balance of probabilities" it was triggered by oxides of nitrogen, probably from a fire appliance outside the property.

Instead, Mr Travers said it was deadly carbon monoxide emitted from the petrol pump that had travelled upstairs into bedrooms, which the family entered at around 7pm that evening.

Zane Gbangbola

Discussing the evidence provided, Mr Travers said he found the pump had been used in the house for six hours and stopped when it “probably ran out of petrol”.

He said: “In deciding where the truth lies, first I ask myself whether there was petrol available for the pump to run for up to six hours.

“I find that it was hired with a full tank.

“I find it inherently improbable having hired the pump to deal with a sudden influx of water, it may well be that they did not buy further petrol but there was more petrol available in a can. In the evidence, I find it significant that it contained 7.25l which is more than the dregs described by Ms Lawler. I find there is sufficient petrol to allow for the pump to run for six hours.

“The Gbangbolas had been warned of 12 inches of water expected over the weekend and it is likely, having hired and set up the additional pump, they would have used it to the lower the water level in the basement, in advance of the further deluge.”

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He added the pump switch was found by police in the "on" position, suggesting it had stopped when it ran out of petrol.

“I am sorry to say that I find that the assertion that the pump was not used after 2.30pm, or even earlier, came after it became apparent to the parents that the experts involved in the case were of the view that Zane’s death was likely to have resulted from carbon monoxide poisoning.

“On a human level I can sympathise with the enormity of the difficulty they face, as Zane’s devoted parents, in accepting any link between their use of the pump in the house and his death, but I must decide dispassionately where the truth lies.”

Mr Travers criticised staff at Surrey Hire & Sales in Addlestone , where Ms Lawler hired the pump in the days before Zane’s death.

Protesters, including Zane's father (in the wheelchair), outside the Environment Agency in Westminster demanding answers into the death of seven-year-old Zane Gbangbola from Chertsey who died in February (Image: Lauren Hurley/PA Wire)

The coroner said he did not find part owner Stephen Dormer and branch manager Jerry Toogood to be "impressive or reliable witnesses", adding he found that Ms Lawler was advised that the petrol pump could be used in the house provided as long as it was ventilated and that "it would be safer in that it would not be stolen", something which both men deny.

Mr Travers added that no safety instructions were provided with the pump.

Ms Lawler and Mr Gbangbola were praised by the coroner for their "very real dignity" during the proceedings and passed on his sincere condolences.

“I have found that Zane’s death resulted from the use of the petrol pump in the house and it was clearly an unintended consequence of that use,” he said. “It is my conclusion, and I shall record, that Zane’s death was an accident.”

Parents Nicole and Kye Gbangbola at the two year anniversary of Zane Gbangbola's death

Mr Travers said he would be putting together a Prevention of Further Death report in relation to the "adequacy and accuracy" of safety guidance documents prepared by Hire Association Europe Ltd, as well as how the Health and Safety Executive logo is used.

The report will be sent to Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt MP, Minister of State for Department for Work and Pensions, Martin Temple, chairman of the HSE Board and Graham Arundell, managing director of HAE Ltd.